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If you brought a Bible this morning. I want to invite you to turn to John chapter 16. And as we get to that place, I’m going to kind of set the background for where we are as a church family. We’re on the tail end of a series together. We have one more week in this. It’s called Six Hours with Jesus. I say that kind of country don’t have six hours with Jesus. Yeah. There we go. The room is alive and. And so the thought is we read in the Bible, in John chapter 13 to 17, Jesus goes with his disciples in the upper room, the final moments of his life before he’s taken by the Roman guards and crucified. And what he does in that upper room and into the Garden of Gethsemane with his inner circle of disciples, as he spends six hours with them, and he takes his life, and he he pours into them in those remaining hours exactly what he desires for them to know. And it’s a it’s a time of intimacy. It’s a time where Jesus only spends with his 12 disciples. It’s a time where Jesus desires to just fill their lives up with all they need to know in order to continue to move forward as his followers, the church. And in this passage of Scripture, Jesus and his disciples are facing some adversity. Will somebody do me a favor that’s going to drive me crazy? Thank you. And if it continues to go, I’ll just go crazy while we’re up here.
All right. Thank you. Kara. Um, John, chapter 16 and verses 1 to 14 is what we’re going to be looking at today. In the midst of adversity, Jesus comes to his disciples and he begins to communicate to him. And and what he offers to them in this chapter is just simply help. And so the title this morning is Thank God for help. We’re going to find out exactly what that help is. And if if I were to say to you today, the Lord loves you, the Lord desires to encourage you. And the Lord has offered this specific way for you to receive help from him. I would thank all of us together would say, tell me how to get that help. Where is that help? I may not need it now or may not think I need it now, but in the future, if Lord’s providing, I know I’m going to need it. And in John 16 he really begins to describe that. And what he does is he he as he introduces this help for us, he starts with verse one, just explaining the situation of where the disciples are in their life. He says this, these things I have spoken to you, so that you may be kept from stumbling. Stumbling. They will make you outcast from the synagogue. But an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.
Jesus very simply says in verse one, guys, there’s a reason I’ve said everything I’ve said to you in this upper room. There’s a reason I’ve gathered you together. There’s a reason I’ve picked these particular illustrations in these teachings for you. They’re significant for your life. And there’s going to come a time where it’s going to get difficult. And these teachings that I’m sharing with you are exactly what you need to know. In John 13 we we saw together that Jesus drank the fifth cup. If you if you if you don’t know what the fifth cup is, you weren’t here. It’s the cup of communion. It’s the cup of suffering is where Christ went to the cross and died for your sins. And to illustrate that, Jesus then gets up from the table as he’s celebrating communion with his disciples, and he washes their feet, and he’s saying to you, this is a symbol communion, the sacrifice that I’ve made. This symbol is to be reflected upon in the washing of feet, saying, I have served you in the lowliest of forms to give you exactly what you need my life on your behalf. In John 14. Then Jesus goes and gives his disciples a promise. He says, uh, you let not your hearts be troubled. In my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there you may be also this heavenly kingdom for which you belong.
Jesus again gives a wedding illustration of a when a when a man is is engaged to a woman, the husband then is considered betrothed or married to that lady at that time. And he then leaves from that family, and he prepares a place for her to live, that when he returns for her, they will live together in in holy matrimony for all of their days. Right? And Jesus shares that with his disciples. And in 15 he tells us in John chapter 15, draw your strength from him. He is the vine. And you are the branches. If you want to understand what life is, turn to Christ. If you want to understand how to receive strength for your living, turn to Christ. Life is found in abiding in him. And the illustration that we used was the minnow. You guys remember the minnow, right? The insignificant does nothing but sits in my house in a little pot all day and eats the food that I throw in until I have to clean it. The insignificant minnow. Well, that’s the Greek word for abide and and in Christ to receive strength to, to, to find life. We we abide in him that’s resting in his presence permanently. And Jesus is looking at his disciples and saying, guys, I know you’re troubled and I know trouble is coming. And that’s the reason I’ve shared all of this with you.
That’s the reason we’re in this upper room. I want you guys to understand how significant it is that you listen to the teaching for which I have given you. And then he says in verse three, these things they will do because they have not known the father or me. But these things I have spoken to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. Because I’m telling you this now. Because I’m leaving. Jesus says, these people are going to come along and they’re thinking that they’re going to do things in behalf of God, and there’s no representation of me at all. What they’ll say it’s it’s the 21st century, right? It’s irrelevant. These teachings today, if Jesus were alive now, he would have said it way differently. But Jesus. When he declares truth, he declares truth absolutely meaning. It transcends time. And Jesus is going to say, people are thinking they’re doing this in service to God. But I’ve plainly declared to you, what is truth? This is what you follow. Jesus goes on from there and he says in verse five and six, but now I’m going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
Meaning. The idea is that the concern of the disciples in this moment has them so disoriented that they can’t even listen to the truth that Jesus is sharing with them. And we’ve all been in those places before where something so shocking, so tragic happens in your life that it does nothing but put you in a place of numb. You can’t even reason what just took place in your life. And here it happens in this passage with his disciples, the news that they got. I don’t know how that happened. Oh, no. It’s possessed. Where’s Richie? We go minimize it, and then I’ll put it up there. Where’s the clicker? Ah! Where is that? Frank will get it. Sweet. Back on track. Yeah. Yeah. That’s it. You guys tell me when it’s ready, okay. Hold on. All right, all right. And Jesus is saying to his disciples in verse 12, you guys have such a problem before you that you’re numb to it, in fact, that your your situation has so have you has you concerned that it’s become a worry and the worry has stopped you from moving forward in our relationship together in these moments. And so he goes on in verse 12, let me read it to you just because we don’t have it on here. He says, I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. What Jesus is saying in this verse of scripture is, uh, guys, I’m willing to work with you wherever you are.
Wherever your position is and your relationship with me, whatever challenge it is that you’re facing, um, you’re not able to bear what I want you to understand in these moments. And so I just want you to know I’m with you. And when your mind is out of that state of shock, I’m going to be here to continue to move forward with you. And Jesus when he comes to these first 12 verses. What he does for us is he just outlines the predicament of the disciples, because what he’s going to do is introduce us to the help that they need. And it’s not just a help for the moment. It’s a help that transcends all the time. It’s a help and a promise that Jesus gives to us. And it begins in verse seven in the book of John. Let me read it to you. Jesus says in this passage, but I tell you. I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. Well, Jesus promises in order to aid these disciples in the growth of their relationship with the Lord as a helper. And that helper that Jesus promises is who? Holy Spirit. And I got to tell you this morning, as I think about what Jesus is about to say to these disciples, the same thing, that he’s same type of truth, that he’s speaking to us.
If there’s anything that I that I want from this morning is just to experience the presence of the Lord in my life and to allow His Spirit to move freely in me, that is that is my desire. That is my goal. That is not just a Sunday morning. That’s an everyday for my life. And I hope it’s not, not not just for me, but it’s for all of us in this room. God, you’ve promised the spirit. The spirit is promised to be a help. Lord, how can we get this Spirit’s help? I mean, what does it take? You think about when people teach the Holy Spirit and consider all the things that people say about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, I believe, is is the most abused idea in Christianity. He’s the most abused person of the Triune God. People tend to think that because the Holy Spirit’s a mystery, and he’s taken on a new role in the New Testament, I think a lot of times people tend to just take this Holy Spirit and whatever. They just want to make him up to be. That’s that’s who he is for the day. And so this morning, when we talk about the help that the Holy Spirit brings to us, what I, what I want to do is I’m going to talk a little bit of theology and some application as well, to help us gather the understanding of what the spirit really is.
So when he moves in our lives, we can understand that it’s the presence of the spirit. And when it’s not the spirit moving, we don’t attribute things that aren’t of the Holy Spirit to the Holy Spirit so that we can experience the help that Jesus promises. And so with that, let me just move forward. You guys aren’t ready yet, are you? The Holy Spirit in the Bible. If you’ve studied for any amount of time, let me just tell you what he looks like, okay? The Bible tells us if you read the King James Version of Scripture, you are an intelligent human being because it’s on a college level. That translation, it’s Old English, won’t even talk that way anymore. It’s like Shakespeare and interacting with life today and and the Bible. If you read the King James Version, particularly the Bible in the King James Version, refers to the Holy Spirit as actually the Holy Ghost. Most of the translations for the word Holy Ghost and in the King James are ghost, and there’s a few translations that come through as spirit that points me in a position. I used to do this all the time when I was a kid, because I read the King James when I was younger, when I would go to church, and I was poor growing up in West Virginia.
Are we good? It’s not going to work. I was poor growing up in West Virginia, and so sometimes for Halloween, um, I would take a bedsheet. Right. I know you’ve all done this. I cut the eyes out. Right. And when I was a good Halloween trick or treater, I was the Holy Ghost, right? And when I was bad, I don’t know what I was, but. But I was just a regular ghost, I guess, at that point. But what is this, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit? What in the world is he? I mean, is it two persons in the Bible? Is there a ghost and is there a spirit? I’ve heard people try to say that from texts within Scripture. There’s a difference between the ghost and the spirit. I just want you to know there’s not. Okay. The Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit are the same person when you’re reading the King James. The reason the King James translate ghost and sometimes it translates spirit is because when King James picked the people to translate into English, he didn’t specifically tell them, hey, when you get to the word spirit, I want everyone to translate it. Spirit. And so what happens when you have a different translator working on a different passage, and you get to the word spirit in the New Testament it can also be translated ghost. And so depending on what translator you were, you went with what you liked. Apparently the word ghost was more popular when the King James was written.
And so the Holy Spirit doesn’t look like a ghost, but that’s the way it translates in the in the Bible for us is the Holy Spirit is a ghost. And so there’s no reason to call Scooby Doo. When you read that section of the Bible, we’re talking about the same person, right? Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost. The second is the Holy Spirit is a person. It’s not just a manifestation of God. It’s not just a presence. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Bible tells us. In Matthew 2819, Jesus looks at his disciples and says, go out into the world and baptize in the name of the father, son, and the spirit. Three individual identities listed there in the passage of Scripture, and so the Holy Spirit is attributed as a person. The Bible also goes on to tell us in in first Thessalonians 519 and Ephesians four, do not quench the Holy Spirit in Thessalonians. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, meaning you can do things against his very nature in which the Holy Spirit experiences grief. His experiences regret for the decisions that we make in our lives. In acts chapter five and verse three, it tells us, do not sin against the Holy Spirit, because in sinning against the Holy Spirit, you’re sinning against God. Oh good. Most distracting service ever is about to be fixed. Brilliant. There we go. Thank you guys.
In chapter five, you see that? But Peter said to Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to men, but to God as the Holy Spirit is. He’s not a ghost. He’s he’s a person. The Bible goes on to tell us, well, the Holy Spirit takes on forms. Although the Holy Spirit doesn’t have a physical body, it does take on forms in different portions of Scripture. And it says in John 123, John testified, I have seen the spirit descending and what look like a dove out of heaven. But what the Bible tells us in John three is God is spirit. In Luke 24, a spirit does not have flesh and bones. Coincidentally, when you read the Bible, you actually find out of the Triune being that is God, father, son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only one that takes on a physical presence, and it tells us that Jesus is physical presence. He doesn’t take on until John chapter one. In the beginning was the word. Word was with God, and the word was God. It says in verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And so the Holy Spirit doesn’t have flesh or bones, but he is spirit. In John three describes sort of how he moves, it says, the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from or where it is going.
So is everyone who was born of the spirit. It’s like a breeze. You don’t see him, but you know his presence is there. Which leads us an important point. How do you know when the Spirit of God is at work? I think it’s a very significant point when you consider the things that people tend to say that the spirit is when it isn’t. So before I tell you how the spirit works and what the spirit does and what it means to our life, let me just clarify some things in our mind about what the spirit does not do. The first is this he doesn’t necessarily always give us a positive feeling, and he isn’t the only thing that can give you a positive feeling. Validating the presence of the spirit through positive feelings is not always a healthy thing to do. Let me give you an example, and then I’ll show you some places in Scripture. There are things in life that feel good for me that have nothing to do with God, right? For instance, it would feel great if I would walk onto a a car lot and purchase me a Mercedes. That would feel awesome, right? And so if I value that must be of the spirit because it feels good, right? You can see the irrationality of that. People that struggle with addictions, the reason that we are addicted to certain things in our lives is because there’s something about it that we enjoy, something about it that we like.
We know in the end we don’t necessarily want it, but for the moment there is pleasure in that. And so we want to we pursue those addictions. Those feelings are not necessarily good. So to validate the presence of the spirit with feelings is not always a good thing. Here’s a couple other examples. Not to scare the bejesus out of you this morning, but in first Corinthians 11, this is to sober us up with just the thought of feelings, talking about false teachers coming into a church teaching bad things. It says, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it’s not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. And so what’s happened in this church? The Corinthian church is a very experiential church. They like to just feel the warm fuzzies all day long. And so these people have come into the church and they’re teaching these things, and the guys are like, oh, man. And the ladies, oh man, that sounds great. Oh, that feels so good. And Paul’s saying, listen, just because it feels good doesn’t mean it’s right. These guys represent lies. And Satan can appear as an angel of light, which means an angel that makes you feel good. An angel that gives you good things.
How in the world are you going to determine right from wrong? And if all you’re basing upon is is feelings? And Paul’s warning the disciples here, listen, this could be of Satan. And so to say it’s the spirit. Just because it feels good can can make it misleading for your life. Jeremiah 17 nine even tells us this the way you determine truth and the way you know the spirit isn’t by feelings because even your very heart is deceitful. Your heart is deceitful. Look at this above all things. Meaning we want to tell ourselves what is truth, what isn’t truth when God’s already done it. And we are the best at lying to our own selves. And so to base the presence of the spirit on feelings can be very misleading to your life. And so the spirit doesn’t speak to us necessarily by feelings. But the good news is, is when the Spirit of God is in your life, the product of that is joy. And so we don’t come to church and gather and look for joy. What we look for is truth. And when we identify truth, then God’s Spirit naturally brings us joy in our lives. When we make the pursuit about joy, that’s the ends without the means. And so we need the presence of God’s Spirit communicating to us in truth. And when we receive that, then the product of that is joy. So here’s the advantage to learning about the Holy Spirit this morning.
A lot of people are going to gather in a church, and the reason they came to church is they just want to walk out happy. And a lot of them may walk out happy and that’s fine. But I can tell you the better, the better. Reasoning for us as a group of believers is that our desire is to gather together, allow the Spirit of God to move in our hearts, God to teach us truth. Us surrender our lives to him. And in receiving that truth, we also walk out with joy. But we understand how it happened. And we know where to go to get it. It’s not just about feeling good. It’s about the presence of this spirit. And when the spirit communicates to our lives appropriately, we receive joy. The Bible tells us in first Corinthians 1440, another way that the spirit doesn’t work is he doesn’t act crazy. But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. I told you the Corinthian church, one of the problems with this church is it was all experiential. They’re kind of the church that would say, you know, I don’t really want I don’t really care about the truth. All you need is love, right? Or or you don’t need to know what to stand on. All you need to know is that you need to feel good. And the way to do that is God makes you feel good.
So just feel good. And so they would look for this experiential thing. And and the reason that they’re doing this is because they came from a religious background that taught them to they in the Corinth, in the Corinthian church. These individuals were pagans who would go into a temple and worship and and involved in this worship. These people would begin to get so ecstatic, so out of control, that they would literally go into a trance. And they perceived this as a spiritual identity and a spiritual high. And so when they came into the Christian church, now that they knew Jesus, they, they brought all of their bad theology with them. And so when they’re walking in the church, everyone’s just going crazy. And Paul’s looking at these believers and he’s saying, when new people were coming into the church, all they’re thinking is, you’re crazy. They’re not even thinking about Jesus. And the message about Christ is being lost. Listen, the focus of the church, when people gather to get together, when they hear the word, they need to understand, it’s about Jesus. And the Holy Spirit isn’t about doing things to make you crazy. That’s not the spirit. That’s some spirit that you’re calling the Holy Spirit. But it’s not. It’s not the Holy Spirit. Yes, there’s times to go enjoy and there’s times to celebrate. And and I want to do that as a church. I want God’s Spirit present in our lives, and in that we just become filled with joy and celebration together.
But it’s driven. Through the spirit. And so he says in First Corinthians 1440, but all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. So that God communicates to you. Next is this. He doesn’t give every gift. There’s all kinds of things this morning that I could say the Holy Spirit people say the Holy Spirit does and he doesn’t. And I’m just I’m only identifying this and this is the last one. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t give everyone every gift. When you read First Corinthians chapter 12 to 14, it’s a passage of Scripture that includes the giftedness to the church body. And there are certain teachings that people will say, there’s a way to to to demonstrate to this world that you have the Holy Spirit. And that’s the practicing of specific gifts. And I just want to say, First Corinthians 12 just destroys that thought. Because what First Corinthians 12 says is that God gives each individual different gifts, the body of Christ, that we may bless one another. It says that starting in verse four, now there are a variety of gifts but the same spirit. There are a variety of ministries and the same Lord. There are a variety of effects, but the same God who works all things and all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same spirit.
And on and on it goes. So the Holy Spirit. Gives each individual particular gifts for the blessing of the Body of Christ. Which says to us this morning, as a member of God’s body, God’s got a desire for you to contribute to the body of Christ. If you want to look at what some of those gifts are, first Corinthians chapter 12, does it Romans chapter 12, and I believe Galatians and Ephesians four both list some of those gifts. How can you bless the body of Christ? And where is the Spirit of God led you to bless the body of Christ? And we come together to contribute to each other’s lives. And in that, God is overjoyed with that. So the Holy Spirit doesn’t give everybody all of the gifts, but he gives people a few of the gifts. So talking about what the spirit does. And now let’s talk about what the spirit does. Here’s how we recognize him. Here’s how we we find him in our lives. Here’s how we receive the help from him in these passages in front of us. Back to John 16. It says in verse seven, but I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
Well, Jesus is saying to us in this verse is the Holy Spirit. And the New Testament is about to take on a different role than he’s had before. I mean, if you read the function of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, it’s going to be a little bit different than the function of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. And the reason is, is Jesus identifying for us in verse seven, I’m going away, meaning I’ve made. I’ve come to this world. I’ve made myself a sacrifice for you. I have cleansed you in my sacrifice and I’m being cleansed. The Spirit of God can now come into your life. When you read the Old Testament, what you see is the Spirit of God’s presence made known throughout the Old Testament. But it’s only for periods of time. I mean, if you read Psalm 51, I think it’s verse 11. David says to God, he prays in the Psalms, God, don’t allow your spirit to flee from me. Meaning David’s having to pray this prayer to this God about His Spirit, because he wants that spirit to stay with him forever. But in the Old Testament, the spirit didn’t fulfill that role. The spirit came and he went. In the New Testament, Jesus comes forth to his disciples and says, listen. The Spirit’s coming, and he’s coming to help every one of you believers. And the Bible even tells us it describes it in a few different ways.
He says it indwells us, it seals us, and it baptizes us. Meaning the minute you put your faith in what Jesus has done, as Jesus has gone to the father, the Bible tells us that God seals you with His spirit. We talk about a ceiling in the Old Testament. It’s a it’s a very important promise to you as a church, because what God is saying is, as you have trusted in me because of what I’ve done for you, nothing that you’ve done, but everything that I’ve given to you, as you have put your faith in me, dying for your sins, my spirit promises to seal you. In the Old Testament and the New Testament. When a king would write a law, he would take his ring and he would seal it. And when a king would seal a law, that statement would go as follows. That no one could break that seal unless it was of someone of more power than the king. What Jesus is saying to you in this passage of Scripture when he seals you, when he Ephesians 113 is where it’s at, and in Ephesians four it also repeats it. When God seals you. He owns you, and no one can ever break that seal. No one can ever take the promise of that Holy Spirit away from you. That spirit indwells you the moment you trust in Christ. Bible tells us in first Corinthians 12 that it also refers to it as a baptism.
It completely immerses you. First Corinthians 316 and 619. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit indwells you. Meaning the same spirit that promised all these gifts, the same power that’s given to the disciples. The same thing that Jesus accomplished through these disciples and these apostles that saw the world change. Can happen within your life, because that same spirit that indwelt them is the same spirit that indwells you. And so when Jesus is talking about help in this passage of Scripture, it’s not just to the disciples, it’s a help that impacts this world. As God’s Spirit works in your life and reaches this world for him. And that spirit indwells, that spirit seals, that spirit baptizes. And so when John says this in in verse seven and he lists this Holy Spirit, he calls him a helper. What he’s saying to us is he’s a parakletos. He’s he’s one who pleads a case. He’s one that comes into your life and he works on your heart. And his goal is to change you and to conforming you into the image of Christ. He’s the parakletos, the helper, the pleader. And so he says in verse seven, the helper is coming. And in verse 8 to 11 he defines that help. He says, this is what it looks like. And he when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin because they do not believe in me.
Holy Spirit doesn’t always make you feel good. When the Holy Spirit convicts me, that doesn’t always feel good. And he’s saying the way that we know that the Holy Spirit is working is his his goal is to come into this world and convict this world of its sin. The response of man is to try to live for their own righteousness, but the response of God is to die, that we may have Christ’s righteousness on us. And so says this in verse ten, and concerning righteousness, because I go to the father, and you no longer see me. I’m convicting you in sin. Not so you feel bad convictions, not about feeling bad. God doesn’t want you to feel guilty. Guilty is about being paralyzed. What God desires for you, for you is to convict you. Not not so you feel bad, but so you turn to him. Because he’s the solution. He’s the hope. He’s the life. He’s the one that died for you and paid for everything. And so he says, not only is the Holy Spirit convict us in verse nine, but he also compels us towards righteousness. In verse ten, he he points us to Jesus. In verse 11 and concerning judgment. Because the ruler of this world has blinded minds. So we have the tendency to think in our lives. We are our own king. We are the rulers of our own destiny. But the Bible calls Jesus Lord.
He’s the creator of all things. He just happens to allow you to live in that creation. And one day he will return and one day he will judge. And recognizing our sin and seeing his righteousness. The hope is that we have a fear for the great judger, but a love for the one who cares so much for us that he died. And so when the Holy Spirit works in this world, the way it looks is he convicts us and we go along as people and we remind people it’s not about feeling guilty. It’s about seeing your need for Jesus. So God created you for that relationship and he’s offered his righteousness to you. In verse 11, he will come back as judge and ruler of this world. And the challenge for you is to figure out what side of that line you want to be on. Do you want to profess him as Lord, or do you want to deny him as your own king? Jesus has a way of dealing with either. He describes these thoughts for us in this passage of Scripture. But he goes on a little bit further and declaring to us what the spirit looks like. Says in verse 12 and 13 have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own initiative.
But whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose it to what is to come. Verse 14 is in there as well. It’s not labeled. The Bible tells us very plainly that when the Spirit of God is working the Spirit’s desires to communicate truth to us. Truth, we’ve already said, isn’t necessarily a positive feeling, because sometimes the truth hurts. There are things in our lives that may feel good, but that doesn’t necessarily make them true. And so the question is, how in the world do we discover what truth really is? The Holy Spirit’s desires to communicate this to us. Bible tells us a few verses I’m just going to share with you. There’s all kinds of passages to back this up in Scripture, but in acts chapter 17, these Bereans were gathering together to learn God’s Word, and it says, now they were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, and they felt really good. Right? Is that what it says? They got teaching, and then it felt so good. They just knew it was right. That’s not what it says. It says, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Meaning these guys were gathering together and they were at church and they were feeling really good about the things they were hearing, and they were listening to the apostles teaching. But they also recognized that God’s Word validates the teaching. And so they want to make sure it’s of the right spirit.
It’s not of the satanic angel of light, but the real angel of light just communicating to them. And so they they turn to the scriptures to examine, even tells us in first Thessalonians 519, do not quench the spirit. And here’s how you do not quench the spirit. Examine everything carefully. Make sure that what you’re hearing isn’t just pleasing to your ears because you want your ears tickled, but it’s actually God’s Word speaking truth to you. Second Timothy 316 says this all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Meaning Paul’s looking over the totality of Scripture and he’s saying, all of this is God breathed literally, God’s Spirit manifesting itself into man, and then onto a page that we may understand what God desires for us to know about him and life where we’re heading together. All Scripture is Spirit of God given. His spirit has breathed life onto those pages. And as those words communicate to your heart, it challenges you in your walk with the Lord. And the Spirit of God is is working not only as it’s being taught in in church, but also as you open up God’s Word and you validate everything you’re hearing in church through the scriptures. The Spirit of God communicates truth. And the way that we validate in our lives, whether or not it’s the Spirit of God, it’s through God’s Word. So my challenge to you, after every message that I should share up on stage, is for you to go home and look up the verses and make sure that whatever I’m saying is according to God’s Word, and it’s not leading us astray, because the spirit that we’re following that morning isn’t the spirit we want to be following.
He says this in first Corinthians 14. The spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Meaning what they’ve already communicated to us. It’s subject to God’s Word. God’s word is validated throughout time. And so we understand God’s truth because God communicates truth to us. But he also says in verse 14, look at this. He will glorify me, for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you. What Jesus is saying is, if you really want to know if the Spirit of God is working. And I got to be honest in saying, this is, um, people come into church sometimes and they think they, they think that the Spirit of God has to work in a specific way, and sometimes it does. But sometimes when we say that it has to work in specific ways, the ways that we’re saying it has to work isn’t really of God. And I’ve actually had accused of me in church that we aren’t we don’t have the Holy Spirit. I know what that means. I don’t want to get into what that means, but I’ve just been accused of not having the Holy Spirit.
And so if someone ever accuses you of the Holy Spirit, let me just bring you to one passage of Scripture in your life that validates whether or not the Spirit of God is working through you. Verse 14 of John chapter 16. This is what it says. If you’ve got the spirit, this is what it’s going to look like. It’s going to make much of Jesus. Amen. God isn’t interested in making you look cool or popular. How awesome you are. What God is interested in is making much of Jesus. The Spirit of God is sent by Christ to make much of Christ the way that you know the Spirit of God is working, as God is sharing his truth and making much of Christ, and people are honoring that together, that is God’s Spirit moving. How do you know you’re in a church that has the spirit? How do you know you’re in a church that loves the spirit there submitted to him? Their interest is Jesus. Jesus, you said to me, this is help. The spirit is coming to us so we can continue to connect with you. God, bring this spirit. And that’s why I’m saying this morning, more than anything from my heart, if there’s something that I crave, it’s the Spirit of God moving in me because I just want to know Jesus. And so how do we find this spirit working? If the Bible gives you one command as it relates to the spirit.
Bible says to us, Trust in Jesus. And the Spirit of God indwells you. Everyone that belongs to Christ, the Spirit of God is in your life. Here’s what the Bible doesn’t promise. Just because the Spirit of God is in your life doesn’t mean he has control of your life. And so you can have the spirit. But it’s doing you no good. And so the Bible gives us one command about the Spirit of God. He says this. Ephesians chapter five and Galatians five. Ephesians five says this be filled with the spirit. Galatians five says, walk in the spirit. That simply means this. Your spirit controlled. This is a place of surrender. This is a time in your life, and I think it’s one of the most important times as a believer that you will ever have, and that is when you just take yourself. It can happen every day. It can happen just one big moment in your life where you just realize, I’ve been fighting against God all this time. I’ve sort of given God control, but but he doesn’t really have control. And the Bible says, in order for the spirit to really have control, he’s got to fill your life. And so the way that we do that is just surrender. Have thine own way. We’ve sung that before, right? Have thine own way, Lord. Just lay it all down. Paul says in Romans chapter 12, I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
And I love the results. It tells us. The Bible tells us, if you read Galatians 516, that God’s desire for you is to walk in that spirit, to just surrender to its leading in your life. But here’s the here’s the fruit of that. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Bible goes on to say, against such things there is no law. Meaning you don’t look at Galatians 512 to 23 and say, you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to start doing all that stuff, because that’s what the spirit says. The point of verses 522 to 23. It’s saying, if you’re leading Galatians 516, right. If you’re walking or you’re surrendering to the spirit, then natural product are these things. You don’t produce the product, you surrender to the spirit, and God produces that product in you. And through you love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness, they they belong to you because Jesus belongs to you, and His Spirit has control of your life. And all you have to do is simply surrender. Just lay your life down. How do you know the Spirit of God is working? Jesus told us there is conviction, there is hunger, there is a desire for truth. You’re glorifying Jesus and you’ve surrendered to him. As his truth communicates into your life.
Joy is the product. Our desire isn’t to pursue joy, but to allow him to have control. I know people claim to have the spirit of of God in their lives, and some people do that just abusing what the power of the spirit is. Spirit’s purpose is all about Jesus. I can tell you that someone always asked me this at the end of the service, so I’ll just. I’ll just share it with you now. Um, we talk about specifically when we talk about what the spirit does and doesn’t do. Um, the spirit talks about certain gifts within the Bible, and there’s division within the body of Christ over the the gifts within the Bible. I can tell you this. I have the presence of God’s Spirit in my life. I absolutely love Jesus and I cannot speak in tongues. Some people say to have the presence of the spirit, you have to have that ability. I love Jesus and I don’t speak in tongues. I can tell you, if you read the book of acts, what I would expect if I did Book of Acts every time it happens. There’s always someone coming to Christ. Someone is getting saved. You can read it in the book of acts. Every time someone speaks in the unknown language described in the book of Acts, someone comes to Jesus. Aw, aw, I wish I had this this morning. I have a little bit of a sore throat, but I don’t have the gift of healing.
If I did, I would be at the hospital. I wouldn’t be up on stage sharing it with you. I think God can miraculously heal people. I think James talks about going and praying and healing people, but I don’t have those gifts. But I believe I have the Spirit of God in my life. I think when you read the book of acts, the reason you don’t see people running around the hospital and healing one another is because there was no hospital. In the early church, there wasn’t a hospital. It wasn’t until the 300 A.D. that the church actually wrote it in the laws that every Christian church had to have attached to it a hospital. Previous to that, the people thought God had cursed everyone, and because they were cursed, they had certain ailments. And so you weren’t supposed to touch them. They were cursed. They were going to either heal on their own by their gods or or they they were going to die and they were cursed. You just didn’t touch them. The Christian community came along and said, we need to take care of these people. God tells us to love. And so the hospitals didn’t exist in the first few centuries. And so that’s why you don’t see the disciples there running around killing people. But if I had that ability, that would be where I would be. But I have God’s Spirit. And the reason I have his spirit is because he has promised it to me.
And God’s Spirit is working in my life to make much of Jesus. Because I surrender to Christ, I can walk in that spirit. And the result of that. Result of that spirit is just love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness. Here’s the good thing about this morning is if you look at this Holy Spirit and and hopefully you go home and you can study it some on your own as well. Maybe I even challenge you in some thoughts and thinking. Um, even if we disagree on this stuff, because the spirit is present in my life, I can still love. And I can still have joy and I can have peace and patience with you. Because the spirit is working in me. And all we have to do in our lives to see that spirit move. As surrender. I hope everybody just bow our heads for just a moment. Invite the music team up. When the Spirit of God is in your life. You get truth and you get Jesus and the result of that. The result of that is just the joy of the Lord. And so this morning, here’s my challenge for you. Is that you just take time to surrender to him. If you’ve never given your life to Christ, if you’ve been fighting him, telling him that you have control. Just allow him to have control. To turn your life over to him and experience his joy. Because when you get the Spirit of God in your life, you get joy. Let me.